The present invention relates to methods for producing members of specific binding pairs. The present invention also relates to the biological binding molecules produced by these methods.
Owing to their high specificity for a given antigen, the advent of monoclonal antibodies (Kohler, G. and Milstein C; 1975 Nature 256: 495) represented a significant technical break-through with important consequences both scientifically and commercially.
Monoclonal antibodies are traditionally made by establishing an immortal mammalian cell line which is derived from a single immunoglobulin producing cell secreting one form of a biologically functional antibody molecule with a particular specificity. Because the antibody-secreting mammalian cell line is immortal, the characteristics of the antibody are reproducible from batch to batch. The key properties of monoclonal antibodies are their specificity for a particular antigen and the reproducibility with which they can be manufactured.
Structurally, the simplest antibody (IgG) comprises four polypeptide chains, two heavy (H) chains and two light (L) chains inter-connected by disulphide bonds (see FIG. 1). The light chains exist in two distinct forms called kappa (K) and lambda (xcex). Each chain has a constant region (C) and a variable region (V). Each chain is organized into a series of domains. The light chains have two domains, corresponding to the C region and the other to the V region. The heavy chains have four domains, one corresponding to the V region and three domains (1,2 and 3) in the C region. The antibody has two arms (each arm being a Fab region), each of which has a VL and a VH region associated with each other. It is this pair of V regions (VL and VH) that differ from one antibody to another (owing to amino acid sequence variations), and which together are responsible for recognizing the antigen and providing an antigen binding site (ABS). In even more detail, each V region is made up from three complementarity determining regions (CDR) separated by four framework regions (FR). The CDR""s are the most variable part of the variable regions, and they perform the critical antigen binding function. The CDR regions are derived from many potential germ line sequences via a complex process involving recombination, mutation and selection.
It has been shown that the function of binding antigens can be performed by fragments of a whole antibody. Example binding fragments are (i) the Fab fragment consisting of the VL, VH, CL and CH1 domains; (ii) the Fd fragment consisting of the VH and CH1 domains; (iii) the Fv fragment consisting of the VL and VH domains of a single arm of an antibody, (iv) the dAb fragment (Ward, E. S. et al., Nature 341, 544-546 (1989) which consists of a VH domain; (v) isolated CDR regions; and (vi) F(abxe2x80x2)2 fragments, a bivalent fragment comprising two Fab fragments linked by a disulphide bridge at the hinge region.
Although the two domains of the Fv fragment are coded for by separate genes, it has proved possible to make a synthetic linker that enables them to be made as a single protein chain (known as single chain Fv (scFv); Bird, R. E. et al., Science 242, 423-426 (1988) Huston, J. S. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA 85, 5879-5883 (1988)) by recombinant methods. These scFv fragments were assembled from genes from monoclonals that had been previously isolated. In this application, the applicants describe a process to assemble scFv fragments from VH and VL domains that are not part of an antibody that has been previously isolated.
Whilst monoclonal antibodies, their fragments and derivatives have been enormously advantageous, there are nevertheless a number of limitations associated with them.
Firstly, the therapeutic applications of monoclonal antibodies produced by human immortal cell lines holds great promise for the treatment of a wide range of diseases (Clinical Applications of Monoclonal Antibodies. Edited by E. S. Lennox. British Medical Bulletin 1984. Publishers Churchill Livingstone). Unfortunately, immortal antibody-producing human cell lines are very difficult to establish and they give low yields of antibody (approximately 1 xcexcg/ml). In contrast, equivalent rodent cell lines yield high amounts of antibody (approximately 100 xcexcg/ml). However, the repeated administration of these foreign rodent proteins to humans can lead to harmful hypersensitivity reactions. In the main therefore, these rodent-derived monoclonal antibodies have limited therapeutic use.
Secondly, a key aspect in the isolation of monoclonal antibodies is how many different clones of antibody producing cells with different specificities, can be practically established and sampled compared to how many theoretically need to be sampled in order to isolate a cell producing antibody with the desired specificity characteristics (Milstein, C., Royal Soc. Croonian Lecture, Proc. R. Soc. London B. 239; 1-16, (1990)). For example, the number of different specificities expressed at any one time by lymphocytes of the murine immune system is thought to be approximately 107 and this is only a small proportion of the potential repertoire of specificities. However, during the isolation of a typical antibody producing cell with a desired specificity, the investigator is only able to sample 103 to 104 individual specificities. The problem is worse in the human, where one has approximately 1012 lymphocyte specificities, with the limitation on sampling of 103 or 104 remaining.
This problem has been alleviated to some extent in laboratory animals by the us of immunisation regimes. Thus, where one wants to produce monoclonal antibodies having a specificity against a particular epitope, an animal is immunised with an immunogen expressing that epitope. The animal will then mount an immune response against the immunogen and there will be a proliferation of lymphocytes which have specificity against the epitope. Owing to this proliferation of lymphocytes with the desired specificity, it becomes easier to detect them in the sampling procedure. However, this approach is not successful in all cases, as a suitable immunogen may not be available. Furthermore, where one wants to produce human monoclonal antibodies (eg for therapeutic administration as previously discussed), such an approach is not practically, or ethically, feasible.
In the last few years, these problems have in part, been addressed by the application of recombinant DNA methods to the isolation and production of e.g. antibodies and fragments of antibodies with antigen binding ability, in bacteria such as E.coli. 
This simple substitution of immortalised cells with bacterial cells as the xe2x80x98factoryxe2x80x99, considerably simplifies procedures for preparing large amounts of binding molecules. Furthermore, a recombinant production system allows scope for producing tailor-made antibodies and fragments thereof. For example, it is possible to produce chimaeric molecules with new combinations of binding and effector functions, humanised antibodies (e.g. murine variable regions combined with human constant domains or murine-antibody CDRs grafted onto a human FR) and novel antigen-binding molecules. Furthermore, the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification (Saiki, R. K., et al., Science 239, 487-491 (1988)) to isolate antibody producing sequences from cells (e.g. hybridomas and B cells) has great potential for speeding up the timescale under which specificities can be isolated. Amplified VH and VL genes are cloned directly into vectors for expression in bacteria or mammalian cells (Orlandi, R., et al., 1989, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA 86, 3833-3837; Ward, E. S., et al., 1989 supra; Larrick, J. W., et al., 1989, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 160, 1250-1255; Sastry, L. et al., 1989, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA., 86, 5728-5732). Soluble antibody fragments secreted from bacteria are then screened for binding activities.
However, like the production system based upon immortalised cells, the recombinant production system still suffers from the selection problems previously discussed and therefore relies on animal immunization to increase the proportion of cells with desired specificity. Furthermore, some of these techniques can exacerbate the screening problems. For example, large separate H and L chain libraries have been produced from immunized mice and combined together in a random combinatorial manner prior to screening (Huse, W. D. et al., 1989, Science 246, 1275-1281, WO90/14443; WO90/14424 and WO90/14430). Crucially however, the information held within each cell, namely the original pairing of one L chain with one H chain, is lost. This loses some, of the advantage gained by using immunization protocols in the animal. Currently, only libraries derived from single VH domains (dabs; Ward, E. S., et al., 1989, supra.) do not suffer this drawback. However, because not all antibody VH domains are capable of binding antigen, more have to be screened. In addition, the problem of directly screening many different specificities in prokaryotes remains to be solved.
Thus, there is a need for a screening system which ameliorates or overcomes one or more of the above or other problems. The ideal system would allow the sampling of very large numbers of specificities (eg 106 and higher), rapid sorting at each cloning round, and rapid transfer of the genetic material coding for the binding molecule from one stage of the production process, to the next stage.
The most attractive candidates for this type of screening, would be prokaryotic organisms (because they grow quickly, are relatively simple to manipulate and because large numbers of clones can be created) which express and display at their surface a functional binding domain eg. an antibody, receptor, enzyme etc. In the UK patent GB 2137631B methods for the co-expression in a single host cell of the variable H and L chain genes of immunoglobulins were disclosed. However, the protein was expressed intracellularly and was insoluble. Further, the protein required extensive processing to generate antibody fragments with binding activity and this generated material with only a fraction of the binding activity expected for antibody fragments at this concentration. It has already been shown that antibody fragments can be secreted through bacterial membranes with the appropriate signal peptide (Skerra, A. and Pluckthun, A. 1988 Science 240 1038-1040; Better, M et al 1988, Science 240 1041-1043) with a consequent increase in the binding activity of antibody fragments. These methods require screening of individual clones for binding activity in the same way as do mouse monoclonal antibodies.
It has not been shown however, how a functional binding domain eg an antibody, antibody fragment, receptor, enzyme etc can be held on the bacterial surface in a configuration which allows sampling of say its antigen binding properties and selection for clones with desirable properties. In large part, this is because the bacterial surface is a complex structure, and in the gram-negative organisms there is an outer wall which further complicates the position. Further, it has not been shown that eg an antibody domain will fold correctly when expressed as a fusion with a surface protein of bacteria or bacteriophage.
Bacteriophage are attractive prokaryote related organisms for this type of screening. In general, their surface is a relatively simple structure, they can be grown easily in large numbers, they are amenable to the practical handling involved in many potential mass screening programmes, and they carry genetic information for their own synthesis within a small, simple package. The difficulty has been to practically solve the problem of how to use bacteriophages in this manner. A Genex Corporation patent application number WO88/06630 has proposed that the bacteriophage lambda would be a suitable vehicle for the expression of antibody molecules, but they do not provide a teaching which enables the general idea to be carried out. For example WO88/06630 does not demonstrate that any sequences: (a) have been expressed as a fusion with gene V; (b) have been expressed on the surface of lambda; and (c) have been expressed so that the protein retains biological activity. Furthermore there is no teaching on how to screen for suitable fusions. Also, since the lambda virions are assembled within the cell, the fusion protein would be expressed intracellularly and would be predicted to be inactive. Bass et al., in December 1990 (after the earliest priority date for the present application) describe deleting part of gene III of the filamentous bacteriophage M13 and inserting the coding sequence for human growth hormone (hGH) into the N-terminal site of the gene. The growth hormone displayed by M13 was shown to be functional. (Bass, S., et al. Proteins, Structure, Function and Genetics (1990) 8: 309-314). A functional copy of gene III was always present in addition, when this fusion was expressed. A Protein Engineering Corporation patent application WO90/02809 proposes the insertion of the coding sequence for bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) into gene VIII of M13. However, the proposal was not shown to be operative. For example, there is no demonstration of the expression of BPTI sequences as fusions with protein VIII and display on the surface of M13. Furthermore this document teaches that when a fusion is made with gene III, it is necessary to use a second synthetic copy of gene III, so that some unaltered gene III protein will be present. The embodiments of the present application do not do this. In embodiments where phagemid is rescued with M13K07 gene III deletion phage, there is no unaltered gene III present.
WO90/02809 also teaches that phagemids that do not contain the full genome of M13 and require rescue by coinfection with helper phage are not suitable for these purposes because coinfection could lead to recombination.
In all embodiments where the present applicants have used phagemids, they have used a helper phage and the only sequences derived from filamentous bacteriophage in the phagemids are the origin of replication and gene III sequences.
WO90/02809 also teaches that their process needed information such as nucleotide sequence of the starting molecule and its three-dimensioned structure. The use of a pre-existing repertoire of binding molecules to select for a binding member, such as is disclosed herein, for example using an immunoglobulin gene repertoire of animals, was not disclosed. Further, they do not discuss favouring variegation of their binding molecules in natural blocks of variation such as CDRs of immunoglobulins, in order to favour generation of improved molecules and prevent unfavourable variations. WO90/02809 also specifically excluded the application of their process to the production of scFv molecules.
In each of the above discussed patents (WO88/06630 and WO90/02809), the protein proposed for display is a single polypeptide chain. There is no disclosure of a method for the display of a dimeric molecule by expression of one monomer as a fusion with a capsid protein and the other protein in a free form.
Another disclosure published in May 1991 (after the earliest priority date for the present application) describes the insertion into gene VIII of M13, the coding sequences for one of the two chains of the Fab portion of an antibody with co-expression of the other from a plasmid. The two chains were demonstrated as being expressed as a functional Fab fragment on the surface of the phage (Kang A. S. et al., (1991) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci, USA, 88 p4363-4366). No disclosure was made of the site of insertion into gene VIII and the assay for pAb binding activity by ELISA used a reagent specific for antibody L chain rather than for phage. A further disclosure published in March 1991 (after the earliest priority date for the present application) describes the insertion of a fragment of the AIDS virus protein gag into the N-terminal portion of gene III of the bacteriophage fd. The expression of the gag protein fragment was detected by immunological methods, but it was not shown whether or not the protein was expressed in a functional form (Tsunetsugu-Yokota Y et al. (1991) Gene 99 p261-265).
The problem of how to use bacteriophages in this way is in fact a difficult one. The protein must be inserted into the phage in such a way that the integrity of the phage coat is not undermined, and the protein itself should be functional retaining its biological activity with respect to antigen binding. Thus, where the protein of choice is an antibody, it should fold efficiently and correctly and be presented for antigen binding. Solving the problem for antibody molecules and fragments would also provide a general method for any biomolecule which is a member of a specific binding pair e.g. receptor molecules and enzymes.
Surprisingly, the applicants have been able to construct a bacteriophage that expresses and displays at its surface a large biologically functional binding molecule (eg antibody fragments, and enzymes and receptors) and which remains intact and infectious. The applicants have called the structure which comprises a virus particle and a binding molecule displayed at the viral surface a xe2x80x98packagexe2x80x99. Where the binding molecule is an antibody, an antibody derivative or fragment, or a domain that is homologous to an immunoglobulin domain, the applicants call the package a xe2x80x98phage antibodyxe2x80x99 (pAb). However, except where the context demands otherwise, where the term phage antibody is used generally, it should also be interpreted as referring to any package comprising a virus particle and a biologically functional binding molecule displayed at the viral surface.
pAbs have a range of applications in selecting antibody genes encoding antigen binding activities. For example, pAbs could be used for the cloning and rescue of hybridomas (Orlandi, R., et al (1989) PNAS 86 p3833-3837), and in the screening of large combinatorial libraries (such as found in Huse, W. D. et al., 1989, Science 246, 1275-1281). In particular, rounds of selection using pAbs may help in rescuing the higher affinity antibodies from the latter libraries. It may be preferable to screen small libraries derived from antigen-selected cells (Casali, P., et al., (1986) Science 234 p476-479) to rescue the original VH/VL pairs comprising the Fv region of an antibody. The use of pAbs may also allow the construction of entirely synthetic antibodies. Furthermore, antibodies may be made which have some synthetic sequences e.g. CDRs, and some naturally derived sequences. For example, V-gene repertoires could be made in vitro by combining un-rearranged V genes, with D and J segments. Libraries of pAbs could then be selected by binding to antigen, hypermutated in vitro in the antigen-binding loops or V domain framework regions, and subjected to further rounds of selection and mutagenesis.
As previously discussed, separate H and L chain libraries lose the original pairing between the chains. It is difficult to make and screen a large enough library for a particularly advantageous combination of H and L chains.
For example, in a mouse there are approximately 107 possible H chains and 107 possible L chains. Therefore, there are 1014 possible combinations of H and L chains, and to test for anything like this number of combinations one would have to create and screen a library of about 1014 clones. This has not previously been a practical possibility.
The present invention provides a number of approaches which ameliorate this problem.
In a first approach, (a random combinatorial approach, see examples 20 and 21) as large a library as is practically possible is created which expresses as many of the 1014 potential combinations as possible. However, by virtue of the expression of the H and L chains on the surface of the phage, it is reasonably practicable to select the desired combination, from all the generated combinations by affinity techniques (see later for description of selection formats).
In a second approach (called a dual combinatorial approach by the present applicants, see example 26), a large library is created from two smaller libraries for selection of the desired combination. This ameliorates the problems still further. The approach involves the creation of: (i) a first library of say 107 e.g. H chains which are displayed on a bacteriophage (as a fusion with the protein encoded by gene III) which is resistant to e.g. tetracycline; and (ii) a second library of say 107 e.g. L chains in which the coding sequences for these light chains are within a plasmid vector containing an origin of replication for a bacteriophage (a phagemid) which is resistant to e.g. ampicillin (i.e. a different antibiotic) and are expressed in the periplasmic space of a host bacterium. The first library is then used to infect the bacteria containing the second library to provide 1014 combinations of H and L chains on the surface of the resulting phage in the bacterial supernatant.
The advantage of this approach is that two separate libraries of eg 107 are created in order to produce 1014 combinations. Creating a 107 library is a practical possibility.
The 1014 combinations are then subjected to selection (see later for description of selection formats) as disclosed by the present application. This selection will then produce a population of phages displaying a particular combination of H and L chains having the desired specificity. The phages selected however, will only contain DNA encoding one partner of the paired H and L chains (deriving from either the phage or phagemid). The sample eluate containing the population is then divided into two portions. A first portion is grown on e.g. tetracycline plates to select those bacteriophage containing DNA encoding H chains which are involved in the desired antigen binding. A second portion is grown on e.g. ampicillin plates to select those bacteriophage containing phagemid DNA encoding L chains which are involved in the desired antigen binding. A set of colonies from individually isolated clones e.g. from the tetracycline plates are then used to infect specific colonies e.g. from the ampicillin plates. This results in bacteriophage expressing specific combinations of H and L chains which can then be assayed for antigen binding.
In a third approach (called a hierarchical dual combinational approach by the present applicants), an individual colony from either the H or L chain clone selected by growth on the antibiotic plates, is used to infect a complete library of clones encoding the other chain (H or L). Selection is as described above. This favours isolation of the most favourable combination.
In a fourth approach (called a hierarchrical approach by the present applicants, see examples 22 and 46) both chains are cloned into the same vector. However, one of the chains which is already known to have desirable properties is kept fixed. A library of the complementary chain is inserted into the same vector. Suitable partners for the fixed chain are selected following display on the surface of bacteriophage.
In a fifth approach (see example 48), to improve the chances of recovering original pairs, the complexity of the combinatorial libraries can be reduced by using small B populations of B-lymphocytes selected for binding to a desired antigen. The cells provide e.g. mRNA or DNA, for preparing libraries of antibody genes for display on phage. This technique can be used in combination with the above mentioned four approaches for selection of antibody specificities.
Phagemids have been mentioned above. The applicants have realised and demonstrated that in many cases phagemids will be preferred to phage for cloning antibodies because it is easier to use them to generate more comprehensive libraries of the immune repertoire. This is because the phagemidxe2x80xa2DNA is approximately 100 times more efficient than bacteriophage DNA in transforming bacteria (see example 19). Also, the use of phagemids gives the ability to vary the number of gene III binding molecule fusion proteins displayed on the surface of the bacteriophage (see example 17). For example, in a system comprising a bacterial cell containing a phagemid encoding a gene III fusion protein and infected with a helper phage, induction of expression of the gene III fusion protein to different extents, will determine the number of gene III fusion proteins present in the space defined between the inner and outer bacterial membranes following superinfection. This will determine the ratio of gene III fusion protein to native gene III protein displayed by the assembled phage.
Expressing a single fusion protein per virion may aid selection of antibody specificities on the basis of affinity by avoiding the xe2x80x98avidityxe2x80x99 effect where a phage expressing two copies of a low affinity antibody would have the same apparent affinity as a phage expressing one copy of a higher affinity antibody. In some cases however, it will be important to display all the gene III molecules derived by superinfection of cells containing phagemids to have fusions (e.g. for selecting low affinity binding molecules or improving sensitivity on ELISA). One way to do this is to superinfect with a bacteriophage which contains a defective gene III. The applicants have therefore developed and used a phage which is deleted in gene III. This is completely novel.
The demonstration that a functional antigen-binding domain can be displayed on the surface of phage, has implications beyond the construction of novel antibodies. For example, if other protein domains can be displayed at the surface of a phage, phage vectors could be used to clone and select genes by the binding properties of the displayed protein. Furthermore, variants of proteins, including epitope libraries built into the surface of the protein, could be made and readily selected for binding activities. In effect, other protein architectures might serve as xe2x80x9cnouvellexe2x80x9d antibodies.
The technique provides the possibility of building antibodies from first principles, taking advantage of the structural framework on which the antigen binding loops fold. In general, these loops have a limited number of conformations which generate a variety of binding sites by alternative loop combinations and by diverse side chains. Recent successes in modelling antigen binding sites augurs well for de novo d sign. In any case, a high resolution structure of the antigen is needed. However, the approach is attractive for making e.g. catalytic antibodies, particularly for small substrates. Here side chains or binding sites for prosthetic groups might be introduced, not only to bind selectively to the transition state of the substrate, but also to participate directly in bond making and breaking. The only question is whether the antibody architecture, specialised for binding, is the best starting point for building catalysts. Genuine enzyme architectures, such as the triose phosphate isomerase (TIM) barrel, might be more suitable. Like antibodies, TIM enzymes also have a framework structure (a barrel of xcex2-strands and xcex1-helices) and loops to bind substrate. Many enzymes with a diversity of catalytic properties are based on this architecture and the loops might be manipulated independently on the frameworks for design of new catalytic and binding properties. The phage selection system as provided by the present disclosure can be used to select for antigen binding activities and the CDR loops thus selected, used on either an antibody framework or a TIM barrel framework. Loops placed on a e.g. a TIM barrel framework could be further modified by mutagenesis and subjected to further selection. Thus, there is no need to select for high affinity binding activities in a single step. The strategy of the immune system, in which low affinity volves to high affinity seems more realistic and can be mimicked using this invention.
One class of molecules that could be useful in this type of application are receptors. For example, a specific receptor could be displayed on the surface of the phage such that it would bind its ligand. The receptor could then be modified by, for example, in vitro mutagenesis and variants having higher binding affinity for the ligand selected. The selection may be carried out according to one or more of the formats described below with reference to FIG. 2 (which refers particularly to pAbs) in which the pAb antibody is replaced with a phage receptor and the antigen with a ligand 1.
Alternatively, the phage-receptor could be used as the basis of a rapid screening system for the binding of ligands, altered ligands, or potential drug candidates. The advantages of this system namely of simple cloning, convenient expression, standard reagents and easy handling makes the drug screening application particularly attractive. In the context of this discussion, receptor means a molecule that binds a specific, or group of specific, ligand(s). The natural receptor could be expressed on the surface of a population of cells, or it could be the extracellular domain of such a molecule (whether such a form exists naturally or not), or a soluble molecule performing a natural binding function in the plasma, or within a cell or organ.
Another possibility, is the display of an enzyme molecule or active site of an enzyme molecule on the surface of a phage (see examples 11,12,30,31,32 and 36). Once the phage enzyme is expressed, it can be selected by affinity chromatography, for instance on columns derivatized with transition state analogues. If an enzyme with a different or modified specificity is desired, it may be possible to mutate an enzyme displayed as a fusion on bacteriophage and then select on a column derivatised with an analogue selected to have a higher affinity for an enzyme with the desired modified specificity.
Although throughout this application, the applicants discuss the possibility of screening for higher affinity variants of pAbs, they recognise that in some applications, for example low affinity chromatography (Ohlson, S. et al Anal. Biochem. 169, p204-208 (1988)), it may be desirable to isolate lower affinity variants.
Examples 21 and 23 show that the present invention provides a way of producing antibodies with low affinities (as seen in the primary immune response or in unimmunised animals). This is made possible by displaying multiple copies of the antibody on the phage surface in association with gene III protein. Thus, pAbs allow genes for these antibodies to be isolated and if necessary, mutated to provide improved antibodies.
pAbs also allow the selection of antibodies for improved stability. It has been noted for many antibodies, that yield and stability are improved when the antibodies are expressed at 30xc2x0 C. rather than 37xc2x0 C. If pAbs are displayed at 37xc2x0 C., only those which are stable will be available for affinity selection. When antibodies are to be used in vivo for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes, increased stability would extend the half-life of antibodies in circulation.
Although stability is important for all antibodies and antibody domains selected using phage, it is particularly important for the selection of Fv fragments which are formed by the non-covalent association of VH and VL fragments. Fv fragments have a tendency to dissociate and have a much reduced half-life in circulation compared to whole antibodies. Fv fragments are displayed on the surface of phage, by the association of one chain expressed as a gene III protein fusion with the complementary chain expressed as a soluble fragment. If pairs of, chains have a high tendency to dissociate, they will be much less likely to be selected as pAbs. Therefore, the population will be enriched for pairs which do associate stably. Although dissociation is less of a problem with Fab fragments, selection would also occur for Fab fragments which associate stably. pAbs allow selection for stability to protease attack, only those pAbs that are not cleaved by proteases will be capable of binding their ligand and therefore populations of phage will be enriched for those displaying stable antibody domains.
The technique of displaying binding molecules on the phage surface can also be used as a primary cloning system. For example, a cDNA library can be constructed and inserted into the bacteriophage and this phage library screened for the ability to bind a ligand. The ligand/binding molecule combination could include any pair of molecules with an ability to specifically bind to one another e.g. receptor/ligand, enzyme/substrate (or analogue), nucleic acid binding protein/nucleic acid etc. If one member of the complementary pair is available, this may be a preferred way of isolating a clone for the other member of the pair.
It will often be necessary to increase the diversity of a population of genes cloned for the display of their proteins on phage or to mutate an individual nucleotide sequence. Although in vitro or in vivo mutagenesis techniques could be used for either purpose, a particularly suitable method would be to use mutator strains. A mutator strain is a strain which contains a genetic defect which causes DNA replicated within it to be mutated with respect to its parent DNA. Hence if a population of genes as gene III fusions is introduced into these strains it will be further diversified and can then be transferred to a non-mutator strain, if desired, for display and selection. Example 38 covers the use of mutator strains with phage antibodies (an example of in vitro mutagenesis and selection of phage antibodies is given in example 45).
A useful and novel set of applications makes use of the binding protein on the phage to target the phage genome to a particular cell or group of cells. For example, a pAb specific for a cell surface molecule could be used to bind to the target cell via the surface molecule. The phage could then be internalised, either through the action of the receptor itself or as the result of another event (e.g. an electrical discharge such as in the technique of electroporation). The phage genome would then be expressed if the relevant control signals (for transcription and translation and possibly replication) were present. This would be particularly useful if the phage genome contained a sequence whose expression was desired in the target cell (along with the appropriate expression control sequences). A useful sequence might confer antibiotic resistance to the recipient cell or label the cell by the expression of its product (e.g. if the sequence expressed a detectable gene product such as a luciferase, see White, M, et al, Techniques 2(4), p194-201 (1990)), or confer a particular property on the target cell (e.g. if the target cell was a tumour cell and the new sequence directed the expression of a tumour suppressing gene), or express an antisense construct designed to turn off a gene or set of genes in the target cell, or a gene or gene product designed to be toxic to the target cell. Alternatively, the sequence whose expression is desired in the target cell can be encoded on a phagemid. The phagemid DNA may then be incorporated into a phage displaying an antibody specific for a cell surface,receptor. For example, incorporation may be by superinfection of bacteria containing the phagemid, with a helper phage whose genome encodes the antibody fragment specific for the target cell. The package is then used to direct the phagemid to the target cell.
This technique of xe2x80x9ctargeted gene transferxe2x80x9d has a number of uses in research and also in therapy and diagnostics. For example, gene therapy often aims to target the replacement gene to a specific cell type that is deficient in its activity. Targetting pAbs provide a means of achieving this.
In diagnostics, phage specific for particular bacteria or groups of bacteria have been used to target marker genes, e.g. luciferase, to the bacterial host (sec, for example, Ulitzer, S., and Kuhn, J., EPA 85303913.9). If the host range of the phage is appropriate, only those bacteria that are being tested for, will be infected by the phage, express the luciferase gene and be detected by the light they emit. This system has been used to detect the presence of Salmonella. One major problem with this approach is the initial isolation of a bacteriophage with the correct host range and then the cloning of a luciferase gene cassette into that phage, such that it is functional. The pAb system allows the luciferasecassette to be cloned into a well characterised system (filamentous phage) and allows simple selection of an appropriate host range, by modifying the antibody (or other binding molecule) specificity that the pAb encodes.
The present applicants have also been able to develop novel selection systems and assay formats which depend on the unique properties of these replicable genetic display packages e.g. pAbs.
Much of the terminology discussed in this section has been mentioned in the text where appropriate.
Specific Binding Pair
This describes a pair of molecules (each being a member of a specific binding pair) which are naturally derived or synthetically produced. One of the pair of molecules, has an area on its surface, or a cavity which specifically binds to, and is therefore defined as complementary with a particular spatial and polar organisation of the other molecule, so that the pair have the property of binding specifically to each other. Examples of types of specific binding pairs are antigen-antibody, biotin-avidin, hormone-hormone receptor, receptor-ligand, enzyme-substrate, 1gG-protein A.
Multimeric Member
This describes a first polypeptide which will associate with at least a second polypeptide, when the polypeptides are expressed in free form and/or on the surface of a substrate. The substrate may be provided by a bacteriophage. Where there are two associated polypeptides, the associated polypeptide complex is a dimer, where there are three, a trimer etc. The dimer, trimer, multimer etc or the multimeric member may comprise a member of a specific binding pair.
Example multimeric members are heavy domains based on an immunoglobulin molecule, light domains based on an immunoglobulin molecule, T-cell receptor subunits.
Replicable Genetic Display Package (Rgdp)
This describes a biological particle which has genetic information providing the particle with the ability to replicate. The particle can display on its surface at least part of a polypeptide. The polypeptide can be encoded by genetic information native to the particle and/or artificially placed into the particle or an ancestor of it. The displayed polypeptide may be any member of a specific binding pair eg. heavy or light chain domains based on an immunoglobulin molecule, an enzyme or a receptor etc.
The particle may be a virus eg. a bacteriophage such as fd or M13.
Package
This describes a replicable genetic display package in which the particle is displaying a member of a specific binding pair at its surface. The package may be a bacteriophage which displays an antigen binding domain at its surface. This type of package has been called a phage antibody (pAb).
Antibody
This describes an immunoglobulin whether natural or partly or wholly synthetically produced. The term also covers any protein having a binding domain which is homologous to an immunoglobulin binding domain. These proteins can be derived from natural sources, or partly or wholly synthetically produced.
Example antibodies are the immunoglobulin isotypes and the Fab, F(ab1)2, scFv, Fv, dAb, Fd fragments.
Immunolobulin Superfamily
This describes a family of polypeptides, the members of which have at least one domain with a structure related to that of the variable or constant domain of immunoglobulin molecules. The domain contains two xcex2-sheets and usually a conserved disulphide bond (see A. F. Williams and A. N. Barclay 1988 Ann. Rev Immunol. 6 381-405).
Example members of an immunoglobulin superfamily are CD4, platelet derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR), intercellular adhesion molecule. (ICAM). Except where the context otherwise dictates, reference to imunoglobulins and immunoglobulin homologs in this application includes members of the immunoglobulin superfamily and homologs thereof.
Homologs
This term indicates polypeptides having the same or conserved residues at a corresponding position in their primary, secondary or tertiary structure. The term also extends to two or more nucleotide sequences encoding the homologous polypeptides.
Example homologous peptides are the immunoglobulin isotypes.
Functional
In relation to a sbp member displayed on the surface of a rgdp, means that the sbp member is presented in a folded form in which its specific binding domain for its complementary sbp member is the same or closely analogous to its native configuration, whereby it exhibits similar specificity with respect to the complementary sbp member. In this respect, it differs from the peptides of Smith et al, supra, which do not have a definite folded configuration and can assume a variety of configurations determined by the complementary members with which they may be contacted.
Genetically Diverse Population
In connection with sbp members or polypeptide components thereof, this is referring not only to diversity that can exist in the natural population of cells or organisms, but also diversity that can be created by artificial mutation in vitro or in vivo.
Mutation in vitro may for example, involve random mutagenesis using oligonucleotides having random mutations of the sequence desired to be varied. In vivo mutagenesis may for example, use mutator strains of host microorganisms to harbour the DNA (see Example 38 below).
Domain
A domain is a part of a protein that is folded within itself and independently of other parts of the same protein and independently of a complementary binding member.
Folded Unit
This is a specific combination of an xcex1-helix and/or xcex2-strand and/or xcex2-turn structure. Domains and folded units contain structures that bring together amino acids that are not adjacent in the primary structure.
Free Form
This describes the state of a polypeptide which is not displayed by a replicable genetic display package.
Conditionally Defective
This describes a gene which does not express a particular polypeptide under one set of conditions, but expresses it under another set of conditions. An example, is a gene containing an amber mutation expressed in non-suppressing or suppressing hosts respectively.
Alternatively, a gene may express a protein which is defective under one set of conditions, but not under another set. An example is a gene with a temperature sensitive mutation.
Suppressible Translational Stop Codon
This describes a codon which allows the translation of nucleotide sequences downstream of the codon under one set of conditions, but under another set of conditions translation ends at the codon. Example of suppressible translational stop codons are the amber, ochre and opal codons.
Mutator Strain
This is a host cell which has a genetic defect which causes DNA replicated within it to be mutated with respect to its parent DNA. Example mutator strains are NR9046mutD5 and NR9046 mut T1 (see Example 38).
Helper Phage
This is a phage which is used to infect cells containing a defective phage genome and which functions to complement the defect. The defective phage genome can be a phagemid or a phage with some function encoding gene sequences removed. Examples of helper phages are M13KO7, M13K07 gene III no. 3; and phage displaying or encoding a binding molecule fused to a capsid protein.
Vector
This is a DNA molecule, capable of replication in a host organism, into which a gene is inserted to construct a recombinant DNA molecule.
Phage Vector
This is a vector derived by modification of a phage genome, containing an origin of replication for a bacteriophage, but not one for a plasmid.
Phagemid Vector
This is a vector derived by modification of a plasmid genome, containing an origin of replication for a bacteriophage as well as the plasmid origin of replication.
Secreted
This describes a rgdp or molecule that associates with the member of a sbp displayed on the rgdp, in which the sbp member and/or the molecule, have been folded and the package assembled externally to the cellular cytosol.
Repertoire of Rearranged Immunoglobulin Genes
A collection of naturally occurring nucleotides eg DNA sequences which encoded expressed immunoglobulin genes in an animal. The sequences are generated by the in vivo rearrangement of eg V, D and J segments for H chains and eg the V and J segments for L chains. Alternatively the sequences may be generated from a cell line immunised in vitro and in which the rearrangement in response to immunisation occurs intracellularly.
Library
A collection of nucleotide eg DNA, sequences within clones.
Repertoire of Artificially Rearranged Immunoglobulin Genes
A collection of nucleotide eg DNA, sequences derived wholly or partly from a source other than the rearranged immunoglobulin sequences from an animal. This may include for example, DNA sequences encoding VH domains by combining unrearranged V segments with D and J segments and DNA sequences encoding VL domains by combining V and J segments.
Part or all of the DNA sequences may be derived by oligonucleotide synthesis.
Secretory Leader Peptide
This is a sequence of amino acids joined to the N-terminal end of a polypeptide and which directs movement of the polypeptide out of the cytosol.
Eluant
This is a solution used to breakdown the linkage between two molecules. The linkage can be a non-covalent or covalent bond(s). The two molecules can be members of a sbp.
Derivative
This is a substance which derived from a polypeptide which is encoded by the DNA within a selected rgdp. The derivative polypeptide may differ from the encoded polypeptide by the addition, deletion, substitution or insertion of amino acids, or by the linkage of other molecules to the encoded polypetide. These changes may be made at the nucleotide or protein level. For example the encoded polypeptide may be a Fab fragment which is then linked to an Fc tail from another source. Alternatively markers such as enzymes, flouresceins etc may be linked to eg Fab, scFv fragments.
The present invention provides a method for producing a replicable genetic display package or population such rgdps of which method comprises the steps of:
a) inserting a nucleotide sequence encoding a member of a specific binding pair eg. a binding molecule within a viral genome;
b) culturing the virus containing said nucleotide sequence, so that said binding molecule is expressed and displayed by the virus at its surface.
The present invention also provides a method for selecting a rgdp specific for a particular epitope which comprises producing a population of such rgdps as described above and the additional step of selecting for said binding molecule by contacting the population with said epitope so that individual rgdps with the desired specificity may bind to said epitope. The method may comprise one or more of the additional steps of: (i) separating any bound rgdps from the epitope; (ii) recovering any separated rgdps and (iii) using the inserted nucleotide sequences from any separated rgdps in a recombinant system to produce the binding molecule separate from virus. The selection step may isolate the nucleotide sequence encoding the binding molecule of desired specificity, by virtue of said binding molecule being expressed in association with the surface of the virus in which said encoding nucleic acid is contained.
The present invention also provides a method of producing a multimeric member of a specific binding pair (sbp), which method comprises: expressing in a recombinant host organism a first polypeptide chain of said sbp member or a genetically diverse population of said sbp member fused to a component of a secreted replicable genetic display package (rgdp) which thereby displays said polypeptide at the surface of the package, and expressing in a recombinant host organism a second polypeptide chain of said multimer and causing or allowing the polypeptide chains come together to form said multimer as part of said rgdp at least one of said polypeptide chains being expressed from nucleic acid that is capable of being packaged using said component therefor, whereby the genetic material of each said rgdp encodes a said polypeptide chain. Both said chains may be expressed in the same host organism.
The first and second chains of said multimer may be expressed as separate chains from a single vector containing their respective nucleic acid.
At least one of said polypeptide chains may be expressed from a phage vector.
At least one of said polypeptide chains may be expressed from a phagemid vector, the method including using a helper phage, or a plasmid expressing complementing phage genes, to help package said phagemid genome, and said component of the rgdp is a capsid protein therefor. The capsid protein may be absent, defective or conditionally defective in the helper phage.
The method may comprise introducing a vector capable of expressing said first polypeptide chain, into a host organism which expresses said second polypeptide chain in free form, or introducing a vector capable of expressing said second polypeptide in free form into a host organism which expresses said first polypeptide chain.
Each of the polypeptide chain may be expressed from nucleic acid which is capable of being packaged as a rgdp using said component fusion product, whereby encoding nucleic acid for both said polypeptide chains are packaged in respective rgdps.
The nucleic acid encoding at least one of said first and second polypeptide chains may be obtained from a library of nucleic acid including nucleic acid encoding said chain or a population of variants of said chain. Both the first and second polypeptide chains may be obtained from respective said libraries of nucleic acid.
The present invention also provides a method of producing a member of a specific binding pair (sbp), from a nucleic acid library including nucleic acid encoding said sbp member or a genetically diverse population of said type of sbp members, which method comprises:
expressing in recombinant host cells polypeptides encoded by said library nucleic acid fused to a component of a secreted replicable genetic display package (rgdp) or in free form for association with a polypeptide component of said sbp member which is expressed as a fusion to said rgdp component so that the rgdp displays said sbp member in functional form at the surface of the package, said library nucleic acid being contained within the host cells in a form that is capable of being packaged using said rgdp component, whereby the genetic material of an rgdp displaying an sbp member contains nucleic acid encoding said sbp member or a polypeptide component thereof.
The nucleotide sequences for the libraries may be derived from eg animal spleen cells or peripheral blood lymphocytes. Alternatively the nucleotide sequence may be derived by the in vitro mutagenesis of an existing antibody coding sequence.
The present invention also provides a method of producing a member of a specific binding pair (sbp), which method comprises:
expressing in recombinant host cells nucleic acid encoding said sbp member or a genetically diverse population of said type of sbp member wherein the or each said sbp member or a polypeptide component thereof is expressed as a fusion with a component of a secreted replicable genetic display package (rgdp) which displays said sbp member at the surface of the package, nucleic acid encoding said sbp member or a polypeptide component thereof being contained within the host cell in a form that is capable of being packaged using said rgdp component whereby the genetic material of the rgdp displaying said sbp member encodes said sbp member or a polypeptide component thereof, said host organism being a mutator strain which introduces genetic diversity into the sbp member to produce said mixed population.
The present invention also provides a method of producing a member of a specific binding pair (sbp), which method comprises:
expressing in recombinant host cells nucleic acid encoding said sbp member or a genetically diverse population of said type of sbp member wherein the or each said sbp member or a polypeptide component thereof is expressed as a fusion with a component of a secreted replicable genetic display package (rgdp) which displays said sbp member in functional form at the surface of the package, nucleic acid encoding said sbp member or a polypeptide component thereof being contained within the host cell in a form that is capable of being packaged using said rgdp component whereby the genetic material of the rgdp displaying an sbp member encodes said sbp member or a polypeptide component thereof, said fusions being with bacteriophage capsid protein and the rgdps being formed with said fusions in the absence of said capsid expressed in wild-type form.
The present invention also provides a method of producing a member of a specific binding pair (sbp) which method comprises:
expressing in recombinant host cells nucleic acid encoding said sbp member or a genetically diverse population of said type of sbp member or a polypeptide component thereof fused to a component of a secreted replicable genetic display package (rgdp) which displays said sbp member in functional form at the surface of the package, nucleic acid encoding said sbp member or a polypeptide component thereof being contained within the host cell in a form that is capable of being packaged using said rgdp component whereby the genetic material of the rgdp displaying an sbp member or a polypeptide component thereof encodes said sbp member or a polypeptide component thereof, said sbp member or polypeptide component thereof being expressed from a phagemid as a capsid fusion, and a helper phage, or a plasmid expressing complementing phage genes, is used along with said capsid fusions to package the phagemid nucleic acid.
The library or genetically diverse population may be obtained from:
(i) the repertoire of rearranged immunoglobulin, genes of an animal immunised with complementary sbp member,
(ii) the repertoire of rearranged immunoglobulin genes of an animal not immunised with complementary sbp member,
(iii) a repertoire of artificially rearranged immunoglobulin gene or genes
(iv) a repertoire of immunoglobulin homolog gene or genes; or
(v) a mixture of any of (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv).
The capsid protein may be absent, defective or conditionally defective in the helper phage.
The host cell may be a mutator strain which introduces genetic diversity into the sbp member nucleic acid.
The sbp member may comprise a domain which is, or is homologous to, an immunoglobulin domain.
The rgdp may be a bacteriophage, the host a bacterium, and said component of the rgdp a capsid protein for the bacteriophage. The phage may be a filamentous phage. The phage may be selected from the class I phages fd, M13, f1, If1, lke, ZJ/Z, Ff and the class II phages Xf, Pf1 and Pf3. The phage may be fd or a derivative of fd. The derivative may be tetracycline resistant. The said sbp member or polypeptide chain thereof may be expressed as a fusion with the gene III capsid protein of phage fd or its counterpart in another filamentous phage. The sbp member or polypeptide chain thereof may be inserted in the N-terminal region of the mature capsid protein downstream of a secretory leader peptide. The sequence may be inserted after amino acid +1 of the mature protein. The site for insertion may be flanked by short sequences corresponding to sequences which occur at each end of the nucleic acid to be inserted. For example where 4 the protein domain is an immunoglobulin domain, the insertion site in the phage may be flanked by nucleotide sequences which code for the first five amino acids and the last five amino acids of the Ig domain. Such flanking nucleotide sequences are shown in FIG. 4(2) B and C, wherein the site-flanking nucleotide sequences encode amino acid sequences QVQLQ (SEQ ID NO:1) and VTVSS (SEQ ID NO:2) which occur at either end of the VH domain, or QVQLQ (SEQ ID NO:1) and LEIKR (SEQ ID NO:3) which occur at either end of the Fv (combined VH+VL) domain. Each of these sequences flanking the insertion site may include a suitable cleavage site, as shown in FIG. 4a and FIG. 4b. 
Alternatively, the flanking nucleotide sequences shown in FIG. 4(2) B and C as described above, may be used to flank the insertion site for any nucleic acid to be inserted, whether or not that nucleic acid codes an immunoglobulin.
The host may be E.coli. 
Nucleic acid encoding an sbp member polypeptide may be linked downstream to a viral capsid protein through a suppressible translational stop codon.
As previously mentioned, the present invention also provides novel selection systems and assay formats. In these systems and formats, the gene sequence encoding the binding molecule (eg. the antibody) of desired specificity is separated from a general population of rgdps having a range of specifies, by the fact of its binding to a specific target (eg the antigen or epitope). Thus the rgdps formed by said expression may be selected or screened to provide an individual sbp member or a selected mixed population of said sbp members associated in their respective rgdps with nucleic acid encoding said sbp member or a polypeptide chain thereof. The rgdps may be selected by affinity with a member complementary to said sbp member.
Any rgdps bound to said second member may be recovered by washing with an eluant. The washing conditions may be varied in order to obtain rgdps with different binding affinities for said epitope. Alternatively, to obtain eg high affinity rgdps, the complementary member (eg an epitope) may be presented to the population of rgdps (eg pAbs) already bound to a binding member in which case pAbs with a higher affinity for the epitope will displace the already bound binding member. Thus the eluant may contain a molecule which competes with said rgdp for binding to the complementary sbp member. The rgdp may be applied to said complementary sbp member in the presence of a molecule which competes with said package for binding to said complementary sbp member. Nucleic acid derived from a selected or screened rgdp may be used to express said sbp member or a fragment or derivative thereof in a recombinant host organism. Nucleic acid from one or more rgdps may be taken and used to provide encoding nucleic acid in a further said method to obtain an individual sbp member or a mixed population of sbp members, or encoding nucleic acid therefor. The expression end product may be modified to produce a derivative thereof.
The expression end product or derivative thereof may be used to prepare a therapeutic or prophylactic medicament or a diagnestic product.
The present invention also provides recombinant host cells harbouring a library of nucleic acid fragments comprising fragments encoding a genetically diverse population of a type of member of a specific binding pair (sbp), each sbp member or a polypeptide component thereof being expressed as a fusion with a component of a secretable replicable genetic display package (rgdp), so that said sbp members are displayed on the surface of the rgdps in functional form and the genetic material of the rgdps encode the associated sbp member or a polypeptide component thereof. The type of sbp members may be immunoglobulins or immunoglobulin homologs, a first polypeptide chain of which is expressed as a said fusion with a component of the rgdp and a second polypeptide chain of which is expressed in free form and associates with the fused first polypeptide chain in the rgdp.
The present invention also provides a helper phage whose genome lacks nucleic acid encoding one of its capsid proteins, or whose encoding nucleic acid therefor is conditionally defective, or which encodes said capsid protein in defective or conditionally defective form.
The present invention also provides a bacterial host cell containing a filamentous phage genome defective for a capsid protein thereof and wherein the host cell is capable of expressing capsid protein complementing said defect such that infectious phage particles can be obtained therefrom. The complementing capsid protein may be expressed in said host from another vector contained therein. The defective capsid protein may be gene III of phage fd or its counterpart in another filamentous phage.
The present invention also provides recombinant E.coli TG1 M13KO7 gIII No. 3 (NCTC 12478).
The present invention also provides a phage antibody having the form of a replicable genetic display package displaying on its surface in functional form a member of a specific binding pair or a specific binding domain thereof.
In the above methods, the binding molecule may be an antibody, or a domain that is homologous to an immunoglobulin. The antibody and/or domain may be either naturally derived or synthetic or a combination of both. The domain may be a Fab, scFv, Fv dAb or Fd molecule. Alternatively, the binding molecule may be an enzyme or receptor or fragment, derivative or analogue of any such enzyme or receptor. Alternatively, the binding molecule ray be a member of an immunoglobulin superfamily and which has a structural form based on an immunoglobulin molecule.
The present invention also provides rgdps as defined above and members of specific binding pairs eg. binding molecules such as antibodies, enzymes, receptors, fragments and derivatives thereof, obtainable by use of any of the above defined methods. The derivatives may comprise members of the specific binding pairs fused to another molecule such as an enzyme or a Fc tail.
The invention also includes kits for carrying out the methods hereof. The kits will include the necessary vectors. One such vector will typically have an origin of replication for single stranded bacteriophage and either contain the sbp member nucleic acid or have a restriction site for its insertion in the 5xe2x80x2 end region of the mature coding sequence of a phage capsid protein, and with a secretory leader coding sequence upstream of said site which directs a fusion of the capsid protein exogenous polypeptide to the periplasmic space.
The restriction sites in the vectors are preferably those of enzymes which cut only rarely in protein coding sequences.
The kit preferably includes a phagemid vector which may have the above characteristics, or may contain, or have a site for insertion, of sbp member nucleic acid for expression of the encoded polypeptide in free form.
The kits will also contain ancillary components required for carrying out the method, the nature of such components depending of course on the particular method employed.
Useful ancillary components may comprise helper phage, PCR primers, and buffers and enzymes of various kinds.
PCR primers and associated reagents for use where the sbp members are antibodies may have the following characteristics:
(i) primers having homology to the 5xe2x80x2 end of the sense or anti-sense strand of sequences encoding domains of antibodies; and
(ii) primers including tag sequences 5xe2x80x2 to these homologous sequences which incorporate restriction sites to allow insertion into vectors; together with sequences to allow assembly of amplified VH and VL regions to enable expression as Fv, scFv or Fab fragments.
Buffers and enzymes are typically used to enable preparation of nucleotide sequences encoding Fv, scFv or Fab fragments derived from rearranged or unrearranged immunoglobulin genes according to the strategies described herein.
The applicants have chosen the filamentous F-specific bacteriophages as an example of the type of phage which could provide a vehicle for the display of binding molecules e.g. antibodies and antibody fragments and derivatives thereof, on their surface and facilitate subsequent selection and manipulation.
The F-specific phages (e.g. f1, fd and M13) have evolved a method of propagation which does not kill the host cell and they are used commonly as vehicles for recombinant DNA (Kornberg, A., DNA Replication, W. H. Freeman and Co., San Francisco, 1980). The single stranded DNA genome (approximately 6.4 Kb) of fd is extruded through the bacterial membrane where it sequesters capsid sub-units, to produce mature virions. These virions are 6 nm in diameter, 1 xcexcm in length and each contain approximately 2,800 molecules of the major coat protein encoded by viral gene VIII and four molecules of the adsorption molecule gene III protein (g3p) the latter is located at one end of the virion. The structure has been reviewed by Webster et al., 1978 in The Single Stranded DNA Phages, 557-569, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. The gene III product is involved in the binding of the phage to the bacterial F-pilus.
Although these phages do not kill their host during normal replication, disruption of some of their genes can lead to cell death (Kornberg, A., 1980 supra.) This places some restraint on their use. The applicants have recognized that gene III of phage fd is an attractive possibility for the insertion of biologically active foreign sequences. There are however, other candidate sites including for example gene VIII and gene VI.
The protein itself is only a minor component of the phage coat and disruption of the gene does not lead to cell death (Smith, G. 1988, Virology 167: 156-165). Furthermore, it is possible to insert some foreign sequences (with no biological function) into various positions within this gene (Smith, G. 1985 Science 228: 1315-1317., Parmley, S. F. and Smith, G. P. Gene: 73 (1988) p. 305-318., and de la Cruz, V. F., et al., 1988, J. Biol. Chem., 263: 4318-4322). Smith et al described the display of peptides on the outer surface of phage but they did not describe the display of protein domains. Peptides can adopt a range of structures which can be different when in free solution, than when bound to, for example, an antibody or when forming part of a protein (Stanfield, R. I. et al., (1990) Science 248, p712-719). Proteins in general have a well defined tertiary structure and perform their biological function only when adopting this structure. For example, the structure of the antibody D1.3 has been solved in the free form and when bound to antigen (Bhat, T. N. et al., (1990) Nature 347, p483-485). The gross structure of the protein is identical in each instance with only minor variations around the binding site for the antigen. Other proteins have more substantial conformation changes on binding of ligand, for instance the enzymes hexokinase and pyruvate dehydrogenase during their catalytic cycle, but they still retain their overall pattern of folding. This structural integrity is not confined to whole proteins, but is exhibited by protein domains. This leads to the concept of a folded unit which is part of a protein, often a domain, which has a well defined primary, secondary and tertiary structure and which retains the same overall folding pattern whether binding to a binding partner or not. The only gene sequence that Smith et al., described that was of sufficient size to encode a domain (a minimum of perhaps 50 amino acids) was a 335 bp fragment of a xcex2-galctrosidase corresponding to nucleotides 861-1195 in the xcex2-galactosidase gene sequence (Parmley, S. + Smith, G. P. 1988 supra. This would encode 112 amino acids of a much larger 380 amino acid domain. Therefore, prior to the present application, no substantially complete domain or folded unit had been displayed on phage. In these cases, although the infectivity of the virion was disrupted, the inserted sequences could be detected on the phage surface by use of e.g. antibodies.
The protein encoded by gene III has several domains (Pratt, D., et al., 1969 Virology 39:42-53. Grant, R. A., et al., 1981, J. Biol. Chem. 256: 539-546 and Armstrong, J., et al., FEBS Lett. 135: 167-172 1981.) including: (i) a signal sequence that directs the protein to the cell membrane and which is then cleaved off; (ii) a domain that anchors the mature protein into the bacterial cell membrane (and also the phage coat); and (iii) a domain that specifically binds to the phage receptor, the F-pilus of the host bacterium. Short sequences derived from protein molecules have been inserted into two places within the mature molecule (Smith, G., 1985 supra., and Parmley, S. F. and Smith G. P., 1988 supra.). Namely, into an inter-domain region and also between amino acids 2 and 3 at the N-terminus. The insertion sites at the N-terminus were more successful in maintaining the structural integrity of the gene III protein and displaying the peptides on the surface of the phage. By use of antisera specific for the peptides, the peptides inserted into this position were shown to be on the surface of the phage. These authors were also able to purify the phage, using this property. However, the peptides expressed by the phage, did not possess measurable biological functions of their own.
Retaining the biological function of a molecule when it is expressed in a radically different context to its natural state is difficult. The demands on the structure of the molecule are heavy. In contrast, retaining the ability to be bound by specific antisera is a passive process which imposes far less rigorous demands on the structure of the molecule. For example, it is the rule rather than the exception that polyclonal antisera will recognise totally denatured, and biologically inactive, proteins on Western blots (see for example, Harlow, E. and Lane, D., Antibodies, a Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press 1988). Therefore, the insertion of peptides into a region that allows their structure to be probed with antisera teaches only that the region allows the inserted sequences to be exposed and does not teach that the region is suitable for the insertion of large sequences with demanding structural constraints for the display of a molecule with a biological or binding function. In particular, it does not teach that domains or folded units of proteins can be displayed from sequences inserted in this region.
This experience with Western blots is a graphic practical demonstration which shows that retaining the ability to be bound by specific antisera imposes far less rigorous demands on the structure of a polypeptide, than does folding for the retention of a biological function.
Studies have been carried out, in which E.coli have been manipulated to express the protein xcex2-adrenergic receptor as a fusion with the outer membrane protein lamb. The xcex2-adrenergic receptor was expressed in a functional form as determined by the presence of binding activity. However, when an equivalent antibody fusion was made with lamB, the antibody fusion was toxic to the host cell.
The applicants have investigated the possibility of inserting the gene coding sequence for biologically active antibody fragments into the gene III region of fd to express a large fusion protein. As is apparent from the previous discussion, this approach makes onerous demands on the functionality of the fusion protein. The insertion is large, encoding antibody fragments of at least 100-200 amino acids; the antibody derived domain must fold efficiently and correctly to display antigen-binding; and most of the functions of gene III must be retained. The applicants approach to the construction of the fusion molecule was designed to minimise the risk of disrupting these functions. In an embodiment of the invention, the initial vector used was fd-tet (Zacher, A. N., et al., 1980, Gene 9, 127-140) a tetracycline resistant version of fd bacteriophage that can be propagated as a plasmid that confers tetracycline resistance to the infected E.coli host. The applicants chose to insert after the signal sequence of the fd gene III protein for several reasons. In particular, the applicants chose to insert after amino acid 1 of the mature protein to retain the context for the signal peptidase cleavage. To retain the structure and function of gene III itself, the majority of the original amino acids are synthesized after the inserted immunoglobulin sequences. The inserted immunoglobulin sequences were designed to include residues from the switch region that links VH-VL to CH1-CL (Lesk, A., and Chothia, C., Nature 335, 188-190, 1988).
Surprisingly, by manipulating gene III of bacteriophage fd, the present applicants have been able to construct a bacteriophage that displays on its surface large biologically functional antibody, enzyme, and receptor molecules whilst remaining intact and infectious. Furthermore, the phages bearing antibodies of desired specificity, can be selected from a background of phages not showing this specificity.
The sequences coding for a population of antibody molecules and for insertion into the vector to give expression of antibody binding functions on the phage surface can be derived from a variety of sources. For example, immunised or non-immunised rodents or humans, and from organs such as spleen and peripheral blood lymphocytes. The coding sequences are derived from these sources by techniques familiar to those skilled in the art (Orlandi., R., et al., 1989 supra; Larrick, J. W., et al., 1989 supra; Chiang, Y. L., et al., 1989 Bio Techniques 7, p. 360-366; Ward, E. S, et al., 1989 supra; Sastry, L., et al., 1989 supra.) or by novel linkage strategies described in examples 14, 33, 40 and 42. Novel strategies are described in examples 7, 25, 33, 39 and 40 for displaying dimeric molecules eg Fab and Fv fragments on the surface of a phage. Each individual pAb in the resulting library of pAbs will express antibodies or antibody derived fragments that are monoclonal with respect to their antigen-binding characteristics.
The disclosure made by the present applicants is important and provides a significant breakthrough in the technology relating to the production of biological binding molecules, their fragments and derivatives by the use of recombinant methods.
In standard recombinant techniques for the production of antibodies, an expression vector containing sequences coding for the antibody polypeptide chains is used to transform e.g. E.coli. The antibody polypeptides are expressed and detected by use of standard screening systems. When the screen detects an antibody polypeptide of the desired specificity, one has to return to the particular transformed E.coli expressing the desired antibody polypeptide. Furthermore, the vector containing the coding sequence for the desired antibody polypeptide then has to be isolated for use from E.coli in further processing steps.
In the present invention however, the desired antibody polypeptide when expressed, is already packaged with its gene coding sequence. This means that when the an antibody polypeptide of desired specificity is selected, there is no need to return to the original culture for isolation of that sequence. Furthermore, in previous methods in standard recombinant techniques, each clone expressing antibody needs to be screened individually. The present application provides for the selection of clones expressing antibodies with desired properties and thus only requires screening of clones from an enriched pool.
Because a rgdp (eg a pAb) is a novel structure that displays a member of a specific binding pair (eg. an antibody of monoclonal antigen-binding specificity) at the surface of a relatively simple replicable structure also containing the genetic information encoding the member, rgdps eg pAbs, that bind to the complementary member of the specific binding pair (eg antigen) can be recovered very efficiently by either eluting off the complementary member using for example diethylamine, high salt etc and infecting suitable bacteria, or by denaturing the structure, and specifically amplifying the sequences encoding the member using PCR. That is, there is no necessity to refer back to the original bacterial clone that gave rise to the pAbs.
For some purposes, for example immunoprecipitation and some diagnostic tests, it is advantageous to use polyclonal antibodies or antibody fragments. The present invention allows this to be achieved by either selection of an enriched pool of pAbs with desired properties or by mixing individually isolated clones with desired properties. The antibodies or antibody fragments may then be expressed in soluble form if desired. Such a selected polyclonal pAb population can be grown from stocks of phage, bacteria containing phagemids or bacteria expressing soluble fragments derived from the selected polyclonal population. Thus a reagent equivalent to a polyclonal antiserum is created which can be replicated and routinely manufactured in culture without use of animals.
Individual rgdps eg pAbs expressing the desired specificity eg for an antigen, can be isolated from the complex library using the conventional screening techniques (e.g. as described in Harlow, E., and Lane, D., 1988, supra Gherardi, E et al. 1990. J. Immunol. meth. 126 p61-68).
The applicants have also devised a series of novel selection techniques that are practicable only because of the unique properties of rgdps. The general outline of some screening procedures is illustrated in FIG. 2a and FIG. 2b using pAbs as an example type of rgdp.
The population/library of pAbs to be screened could be generated from immunised or other animals; or be created in vitro by mutagenising pre-existing phage antibodies (using techniques well-known in the art such as oligonucleotide directed mutagenesis (Sambrook, J., et al., 1989 Molecular Cloning a Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press). This population can be screened in one or more of the formats described below with reference to FIG. 2a and FIG. 2b, to derive those individual pAbs whose antigen binding properties are different from sample c.
Binding Elution
FIG. 2(i) shows antigen (ag) bound to a solid surface (s) the solid surface (s) may be provided by a petri dish, chromatography beads, magnetic beads and the like. The population/library of pAbs is then passed over the ag, and those individuals p that bind are retained after washing, and optionally detected with detection system d. A detection system based upon anti-fd antisera is illustrated in more detail below in example 4. If samples of bound population p are removed under increasingly stringent conditions, the binding affinity represented in each sample will increase. Conditions of increased stringency can be obtained, for example, by increasing the time of soaking or changing the pH of the soak solution, etc.
Competition
Referring to FIG. 2(ii) antigen ag can be bound to a solid support s and bound to saturation by the original binding molecule c. If a population of mutant pAb (or a set of unrelated pAbs) is offered to the complex, only those that have higher affinity for antigen ag than c will bind. In most examples, only a minority of population c will be displaced by individuals from population p. If c is a traditional antibody molecule, all bound material can be recovered and bound p recovered by infecting suitable bacteria and/or by use of standard techniques such as PCR.
An advantageous application is where ag is used as a receptor and c the corresponding ligand. The recovered bound population p is then related structurally to the receptor binding site/and or ligand. This type of specificity is known to be very useful in the pharmaceutical industry.
Another advantageous application is where ag is an antibody and c its antigen. The recovered bound population p is then an anti-idiotype antibody which have numerous uses in research and the diagnostic and pharmaceutical industries.
At present it is difficult to select directly for anti-idiotype antibodies. pAbs would give the ability to do this directly by binding pAb libraries (eg a naive library) to B cells (which express antibodies on their surface) and isolating those phage that bound well.
In some instances it may prove advantageous to pre-select population p. For example, in the anti-idiotype example above, p can be absorbed against a related antibody that does not bind the antigen.
However, if c is a pAb, then either or both c and p can advantageously be marked in some way to both distinguish and select for bound p over bound c. This marking can be physical, for example, by pre-labelling p with biotin; or more advantageously, genetic. For example, c can be marked with an EcoB restriction site, whilst p can be marked with an EcoK restriction site (see Carter, P. et al., 1985, Nucl. Acids Res. 13, 4431-4443). When bound p+c are eluted from the antigen and used to infect suitable bacteria, there is restriction (and thus no growth) of population c (i.e. EcoB restricting bacteria in this example). Any phage that grew, would be greatly enriched for those individuals from p with higher binding affinities. Alternatively, the genetic marking can be achieved by marking p with new sequences, which can be used to specifically amplify p from the mixture using PCR.
Since the bound pAbs can be amplified using for example PCR or bacterial infection, it is also possible to rescue the desired specificity even when insufficient individuals are bound to allow detection via conventional techniques.
The preferred method for selection of a phage displaying a protein molecule with a desired specificity or affinity will often be elution from an affinity matrix with a ligand (eg example 21). Elution with increasing concentrations of ligand should elute phage displaying binding molecules of increasing affinity. However, when eg a pAb binds to its antigen with high affinity or avidity (or another protein to its binding partner) it may not be possible to elute the pAb from an affinity matrix with molecule related to the antigen. Alternatively, there may be no suitable specific eluting molecule that can be prepared in sufficiently high concentration. In these cases it is necessary to use an elution method which is not specific to eg the antigen-antibody complex. Some of the non-specific elution methods generally used reduce phage viability for instance, phage viability is reduced with time at pH12 (Rossomando, E. F. and Zinder N. D. J. Mol. Biol. 36 387-399 1968). There may be interactions between eg antibodies and affinity matrices which cannot be disrupted without completely removing phage infectivity. In these cases a method is required to elute phage which does not rely on disruption of eg the antibodyxe2x80x94antigen interaction. A method was therefore devised which allows elution of bound pAbs under mild conditions (reduction of a dithiol group with dithiothreitol) which do not disrupt phage structure (example 47).
This elution procedure is just one example of an elution procedure under mild conditions. A particularly advantageous method would be to introduce a nucleotide sequence encoding amino acids constituting a recognition site for cleavage by a highly specific protease between the foreign gene inserted, in this instance a gene for an antibody fragment, and the sequence of the remainder of gene III. Examples of such highly specific proteases are Factor X and thrombin. After binding of the phage to an affinity matrix and elution to remove non-specific binding phage and weak binding phage, the strongly bound phage would be removed by washing the column with protease under conditions suitable for digestion at the cleavage site. This would cleave the antibody fragment from the phage particle eluting the phage. These phage would be expected to be infective, since the only protease site should be the one specifically introduced. Strongly binding phage could then be recovered by infecting eq. E.coli TG1 cells.
An alternative procedure to the above is to take the affinity matrix which has retained the strongly bound pAb and extract the DNA, for example by boiling in SDS solution. Extracted DNA can then be used to directly transform E.coli host cells or alternatively the antibody encoding sequences can be amplified, for example using PCR with suitable primers such as those disclosed herein, and then inserted into a vector for expression as a soluble antibody for further study or a pAb for further rounds of selection.
Another preferred method for selection-according to affinity would be by binding to an affinity matrix containing low amounts of ligand.
If one wishes to select from a population of phages displaying a protein molecule with a high affinity for its ligand, a preferred strategy is to bind a population of phage to an affinity matrix which contains a low amount of ligand. There is competition between phage, displaying high affinity and low affinity proteins, for binding to the ligand on the matrix. Phage displaying high affinity protein is preferentially bound and low affinity protein is washed away. The high affinity protein is then recovered by elution with the ligand or by other procedures which elute the phage from the affinity matrix (example 35 demonstrates this procedure).
In summary then, for recovery of the packaged DNA from the affinity step, the package can be simply eluted, it can be eluted in the presence of a homologous sbp member which competes with said package for binding to a complementary sbp member; it could be removed by boiling, it could be removed by proteolytic cleavage of the protein; and other methods will be apparent to those skilled in the art eg. destroying the link between the substrate and complementary sbp member to release said packaged DNA and sbp member. At any rate, the objective is to obtain the DNA from the package so that it can be used directly or indirectly, to express the sbp member encoded thereby.
The efficiency of this selection procedure for pAbs and the ability to create very large libraries means that the immunisation techniques developed to increase the proportion of screened cells producing antibodies of interest will not be an absolute requirement. The technique allows the rapid isolation of binding specificities eg antigen-binding specificities, including those that would be difficult or even unobtainable by conventional techniques, for example, catalytic or anti-idiotypic antibodies. Removal of the animal altogether is now possible, once a complete library of the immune repertoire has been constructed.
The novel structure of the pAb molecule can be used in a number of other applications, some examples of which are:
Signal Amplification
Acting as a novel molecular entity in itself, rgdps eg pAbs combine the ability to bind a specific molecule eg antigen with amplification, if the major coat protein is used to attach another moiety. This moiety can be attached via immunological, chemical, or any other means and can be used, for example, to label the complex with detection reagents or cytotoxic molecules for use in vivo or in vitro.
Physical Detection
The size of the rgdps eg pkbs can be used as a marker particularly with respect to physical methods of detection such as electron microscopy and/or some biosensors, e.g. surface plasmon resonance.
Diagnostic Assays
The rgdps eg pAbs also have advantageous uses in diagnostic assays, particularly where separation can be effected using their physical properties for example centrifugation, filtration etc.
In order that the invention is more fully understood, embodiments will now be described in more detail by way of example only and not by way of limitation with reference to the figures described below.